5 Things Climbing Can Teach You About Yourself, Money, & Life

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Something you might not know about me: one of my biggest passions is rock climbing. In fact, one of the biggest reasons Pete and I decided to become digital nomads is because we wanted lifestyle where we can climb wherever and whenever we want.

Anyone who has gotten into climbing will know that it’s a sport that encapsulates your entire life – evenings are about training, weekends are about getting outdoors and climbing some real rock, and life is suddenly about how you can find more time to climb. In the three or so years since I started climbing, my perspective on life and my goals have shifted considerably – and for the better.

It’s taught me a lot about myself, about my goals, and about life. I want to share those climbing life lessons with you today.

1. Your friends are your lifeline

When you’re climbing outside, your belayer literally has your life in their hands. For those unfamiliar with climbing, belaying is a rope system in climbing. It’s an essential part of climbing – if you take a fall, your belay system allows your belayer to easily take the weight of your fall on the rope. I’m not sure I’ve explained that well but here’s the gist: friends are important.

I think this is a big part of the reason the climbing community is so supportive. You need friends, and you need trust if you’re going to get anywhere on the wall.

In life, the people that surround you are equally as important. We all need a support system to catch us when we fall, and to lift us up when we need it. In life, surround yourself with people who bring positivity and passion to your environment.

2. You need to invest to get the best out of yourself

Some investments are essential, and some investments can take you from amateur to pro. In climbing, we invest in ropes, quick-draws, and harnesses to keep us safe. The other investments – shoes, chalk, clothing – aren’t essential, but all help us be far better climbers.

It’s easy to people to think it’s smarter to save and scrimp every penny throughout life. This is especially true for us frugal living fanatics, but sometimes it can be more helpful to invest in yourself than to squirrel your savings away.

If you’re trying to start your own business and become an entrepreneur, invest in courses and kits that could take your business to the next level. Buy the things you need to make your lifestyle comfortable. If you’re interested in putting your money into stocks, invest in someone who can guide you and prevent you from losing everything. Sometimes we have to give a little to get a lot back.

3. It’s not about the destination

Our society is very much about the end goal. People want results, and they want them fast. It can be easy to get swept up in an idea and burn out because you’re not getting what you want quickly enough.Climbing teaches us to take a step back from that. To appreciate the struggle and the fun in hauling yourself up a seemingly impossible task, and celebrating the journey when you reach the top.

We can apply this mentality to so many parts of our lives for the better.

For example, if you’re trying to grow your business or blog, try not to get wrapped up in numbers and followers and income. Take time to appreciate growing a community, engaging with your followers and learning to hone your skills to produce some really amazing work. The results will come.

4. Fear is necessary. Accept it.

When I tell people I’m going to be climbing 30ft rock faces at the weekend, people always ask me, ‘but don’t you get scared?’.

Well, fuck yes I do. My heart beats out of my chest, my voice comes out as a whimper and let’s not even go into detail about the way my leg gets a mind of it’s own and starts doing an impressive Elvis-style shake when I’m trying to balance on an inch of rock.

The thing is, that fear is a part of the process. You don’t ignore it, you accept it. It is totally unnatural to be several feet off the ground and clutching at minuscule edges to haul yourself higher.

Success requires fear. It’s how we deal with that fear that is important. Don’t push it away, and don’t let it stop you. Stare that cliff in the face and say, “I’m gonna get on top of you, motherfucker”.

5. Improvement takes time and practice

We can’t all be Chris Sharma our first time climbing, just like we can’t all walk into any of our dreams and rock them on day one.

Every successful person had a day one where they felt like a total newbie. Everyone needs time, practice, and more practice to master something (although, to be honest, most of us can’t be Chris Sharma, ever…).

If you’re just starting out at something, don’t get disheartened by comparing your beginning to someone else’s middle. This is one of the most important pieces of advice I’ve ever received – for climbing and for the rest of my life. Do you. Keep going. Look back years later and laugh at how far you’ve come.

Have you ever been so in love with a sport that it’s changed how you view life? Or, if that question is too deep, have you ever tried climbing?

What lesson have you learned that you’ve then applied to the rest of your life – let me know in the comments!

10 Comments

I love the analogies between finance and athletics/fitness! Definitely hits home for me 🙂 This is a great list, and I especially like #4. So often I find myself internally combatting fear of some sort… and it is always helpful remember that fear is ok, its what we do with it that matters!

Haha! Maybe climbing isn’t the sport of choice for you then 😛 I do have to tell myself not to look down a lot, and am constantly checking my knots saying “this is fine, this is fine” – the things we do for fun!

This is so relatable even though I don’t rock climb! My boyfriend and I moved to Colorado so we could explore and have more adventures together. We started our blog Just Another Dollar as a means to potentially have the free lifestyle you and Pete have accomplished. We were terrified to take the leap to move and go after our dreams but like you said, fear is necessary and if you aren’t afraid of anything then nothing is truly worth doing (in my mind). Great analogies and a great way to use personal experience and passions to relay an important life lesson on personal finance and risk.

Glad you could relate to the article! I think for sure this post can be expanded to the greater outdoors and adventures and not just rock climbing –
although I’ve heard Colorado is pretty epic for climbing if you’re curious 😉

Great post! In high school, I was at the climbing gym almost every week. I don’t go as much now, but it’s still fun when I can! The fear of falling definitely never went away, but I guess that’s part of life. Feel the fear and do it anyway!

I’ve never been rock climbing before but I am super intrigued to try it sometime. I think it could be super fun although I have terrible hand/forearm strength. So I might not be very good at it which I think is pretty vital. On top of that I’m not very flexible and it seems like a lot of rock climbers can do some twister type position scaling up the rocks.

You should definitely give it a go! We all start somewhere – you’d build up that forearm strength and flexibility from climbing in no time. Trust me, I did not begin with that strength – it’s a steady process 🙂

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Building a solid understanding of my finances allowed me to leave my office job and start travelling the world and working from the road.

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